If you are in Grand Prairie and the goal is a commission, the license that lets you work armed, you are in the right place. You are just at an earlier point on the path than you probably realized.

Can I Just Take the Armed Class?

No, and the reason is written into the rule rather than into any school’s policy. Level 2 is the entry-level, unarmed security course, and under 37 TAC §35.141(a)(1) it is required of anyone applying for a non-commissioned security officer license and is the required first step toward a security officer commission. You are not choosing between the two courses. You are doing one and then the other.

Is There Any Shooting in Level 2?

None. No firearms training and no firearms qualification is part of Level 2. No range, no weapon handling, nothing about carrying on a post. Completing it does not authorize you to work armed and it does not by itself produce a commission. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either confused or selling you the wrong class.

What the course does cover is Texas security law, the professional responsibilities of a security officer, emergency procedures, and ethics, from material prepared or approved by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Every judgment call you will one day make as an armed officer, when you can detain, what your authority actually is, how you document an incident, comes out of this material.

What Happens to the Certificate?

You keep it, and you should treat that instruction seriously. The certificate of completion, referred to on this site as PSP 36, must be submitted with your license application. Then, later, §35.81(a) requires a security officer commission application to be accompanied by both the Level 2 and the Level 3 certificates of completion.

So the document you earn this month is one you will be handing over again on the day you apply to carry a firearm on duty. Scan it. Back it up. Do not leave the only copy with an employer you may not still be working for. You can confirm all of this yourself in 37 TAC Chapter 35.

What Can I Work in Grand Prairie Before the Commission?

More than you would think. Grand Prairie sits right in the middle of the Dallas–Fort Worth corridor, and the mix here is unusually favorable to unarmed officers: a large entertainment and event economy, big-box retail along the interstates, the distribution and light-industrial parks that fill the prairie between the two cities, corporate reception desks, apartment communities and parking structures. Venue and event staffing in particular runs almost entirely non-commissioned, and it hires steadily.

Treat those posts as paid groundwork rather than a holding pattern. Contract companies in this metro often hold both unarmed and armed accounts, so the officer who is already on the books, reliable and known by name is frequently the one moved onto an armed contract the moment the commission lands.

Do I Owe Continuing Education in the Meantime?

No. §35.161(b) specifically exempts noncommissioned security officers from continuing education requirements. There are no recurring hours to track while you are unarmed. That obligation starts with the commission, and from then on it is handled through the armed security renewal course.

Where Do I Actually Take It?

Level 2 has an option the armed course does not: under §35.141(a)(1), §35.142 and §35.143 it may be taught either by the licensee’s own designated person or by a DPS-approved school with a DPS-approved instructor. Level 3 has no in-house route at all. Either way, walk away with the certificate.

East Texas Security Training Academy runs the Level 2 course 100% online, so a Grand Prairie student never drives east for it. When you are ready to move up, the Level 3 commissioned officer course is the next rung, and our FAQ page and class list lay out how the whole progression fits together.